Enhancements in Javadoc, Java SE 1.4.2

This document describes the changes made to the Javadoc tool
between versions 1.4.1 and 1.4.2.

The changes listed below include the bug number and whether the
fix was in the Javadoc tool front end ("tool") or standard doclet
("stddoclet"). The term "regression" appears for features that
regressed at some point -- for features that worked in 1.3.x, broke
in 1.4.0 or 1.4.1, and have been fixed in 1.4.2.

Can now inherit comments from source files not being
documented. Your code can automatically inherit comments from
interfaces and classes whose source files are on -sourcepath but
are not being passed in on the command line. For example,
for J2SE, You can do this by unzipping the src.zip file that ships
with the SDK (which does not contain all source files, however),
and add its path to -sourcepath. When javadoc runs on your code, it
will load the doc comments from those source files as needed. For
example, if a class in your code implements java.lang.Comparable,
the compareTo(Object) method you implement will
inherit the doc comment from java.lang.Comparable. This feature was
actually available in 1.4.1. (No bug number, tool)

When using the -link (or
-linkoffline) option, all @see and
{@link} tags now create links to excluded
classes. This fix greatly simplifies the ability to link to
external classes and members. Previously, an external class needed
to be either imported or fully qualified in a declaration in order
for @see or {@link} to link to its
documentation. Now, the only requirements are that the class be
fully qualified and that its API docs appear on the path supplied
by -link. (4652655,
stddoclet)

Other new features are listed below.

Notable Bug Fixes

Links: Fixed @link of a fully-qualified program element to link
to external classes with the -link option. (4652655, tool,
REGRESSION)

New feature: Now includes serialVersionUID in Serialized
Form (4525039
stddoclet)

New feature: Can now inherit comments from source files
not being documented. Your code can automatically inherit comments
from interfaces and classes whose source files are on -sourcepath
but are not being passed in on the command line. See
example. (No bug number, tool)